God Communicates
by Mike James
While working in a large government bureaucracy, I learned that when we wanted to communicate, we needed to use various methods to do so. It was not enough just to send an email to everyone. The reason is that some people don’t like to read their email. We needed to give live briefings, put the same information in newsletters, place flyers on desks, reiterate it in meetings, and more.
God is very similar in using many modes of communication. Let’s look at the many ways God speaks to us.
The most common way most Christians think about God communicating with us is through His Spirit. In John 14:16, we read that God would send a Comforter (Holy Spirit) to us. In John 14:26, we read that the Comforter would teach us things and bring things to remembrance for us.
Believe it or not, God has spoken to some audibly. In Exodus 19:19, we read that Moses heard the voice of God in an audible way. I believe this was the voice of the one who would come to us in the incarnation, Jesus Christ.
God also speaks to us through the written word. Obviously, the Bible is the “Word” of God, and we all use it to understand the mind and character of God. But God even wrote to us in a literal manner also. In Exodus 31:18, we read that God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger!
We could also add that God’s word speaks to us through God’s inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16).
The angels of God are also a method by which God communicates. In Luke 2:10-12, we read about an angel delivering a message to the shepherds that Jesus Christ had been born. There are numerous other examples in Scripture where angels were used to bring messages from God (Hebrews 2:2).
Yet another major method of getting a message from God is through the prophets. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us God decided even before Jeremiah’s birth that he would be used of God to bring us important information from God. But it was not just Jeremiah; God also spoke to us through many other prophets (Hebrews 1:1).
Many of us have experienced dreams. Yes, God could use this as another way to communicate with us. We find some interesting information in the book of Daniel about this. In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that can only be interpreted by God’s prophet Daniel. Daniel himself also has a dream in Daniel 7 that connects to what Nebuchadnezzar saw in chapter 2. In Matthew 1:20, Joseph has a dream where an angel appears with news about Jesus.
Like dreams, visions are also used as a mode of communication. Ezekiel 1:1 and Revelation 9:17 tell us about visions that Ezekiel and John had that came from God.
God also literally taught the apostles (Acts 1:2), who then carried that message to us through the Holy Spirit.
Revelation can be defined as a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way. We can argue that this is yet another way God communicates with us. Galatians 1:12, Ephesians 3:3, and Revelation 1:1 provide evidence of this mode of communication.
Probably the most important way God communicates with us is through the life of His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2). The example of Christ’s life is the example we all should follow in our Christian walk.
Keeping all this in mind, make sure that you use more than one way to communicate with people in your orbit. Take advantage of all this. You can use email, letters, phone calls, and texting. But most importantly, don’t forget to use the personal visit, which is the best way of all. Getting to see someone up close and personal is the most effective way to communicate because body language, facial expressions, and emotions are much more evident than they ever can be in the other modes of communication.
Isn’t it interesting that our Savior decided to pay us a personal visit through the incarnation, creating such an impact on the disciples that most of them literally died for the message they were directed to take to the world?